


Silver Polish

by phandomghostwriter



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Domestic, Grocery Shopping, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nail Polish, sexuality crisis if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 13:09:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15143762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phandomghostwriter/pseuds/phandomghostwriter
Summary: Phil goes to Tesco to pick up some needed items and clear his mind and he finds an impulse item that brings up some emotional feelings.Or the fic in which I imagined Phil having silver nail polish on for 2 seconds and was like yeah that should be a thing.





	Silver Polish

**Author's Note:**

> This is just some domestic, comfort, nail painting fun.

Phil had an errand to run. He had ate Dan’s cereal that morning, they needed a lighter because theirs had gone missing, and they needed pesto for dinner that night. It wasn’t going to be an exciting trip, but he needed out anyway. He had been up late editing and woke up feeling drained and needing an excuse to get out of returning to his editing again this morning.  
Phil actually didn’t mind the trip to Tesco. Normally they ordered their items in, but today he decided he would make the short bus ride into town to actually browse the aisles. He logistically could have been in and out in 5 minutes. He knew what cereal Dan had requested, he knew where to find the jar of pesto, and he knew lighters would be up by the register. He didn’t care though, he started at the produce and made his way through the store.  
They had oranges. Dan liked oranges he thought, might as well throw those in the trolly. He made his way to a refrigerated wall with drinks and glanced over their labels. _Kombucha _, well he had seen something on twitter about that, and there was a mango one, so_ what the hell_. He grabbed a Tesco’s 100% apple juice as well because he had to be honest he was getting a little sick of the water and diet coke Dan kept ordering.  
By the time he reached the health and beauty aisle he had grabbed pancake mix, a tin of cashews, ice lollies, and ginger nut biscuits along with his other needed items. He was suddenly very thankful he had thought to sling a backpack on. He had suddenly went from spending 5 quid to likely 25.  
He loved walking down the health and beauty aisle. He liked smelling different shampoo bottles. He and Dan bought the same shampoo and it could not be purchased in Tesco, but he still enjoyed picking up the bottles. He also loved picking out toothpaste. Again, he usually went for the same thing every time because he had sensitive teeth, but he liked the bright packaging.  
He eventually grabbed his usual though and continued down the aisle. That was when he saw at the very end of the aisle an end cap of on sale nail polish. He had looked at nail polish with Dan before. They had to find yellow for the young minds event, and Dan had bought black before so that was nothing too new. What was new was the row of silver polishes that caught Phil’s eye. Painting his nails was never really something he had a desire to do. He fully supported Dan painting his nails, and actually kind liked it when he did, but it was Dan’s thing, not Phil’s. Something in him was currently conflicted though. it was 35 pence, and it was a cool shade of dark silver, and Phil was feeling incredibly impulsive, so he looked to his right and then his left and tossed that in the trolly too.  
By the time he had reached the register he had put all of his things in a line on the belt and grabbed a lighter. He was suddenly very nervous about the nail polish. He felt dumb. He had hid it in the back behind the juice bottles and he could feel a blush spreading over his face. He looked at the cashier, she was a woman in her 50’s called Dorris.  
“Hello, how are you today?” She asked and Phil jumped.  
“Fine thanks, good weather today yeah?” This was good, talking would distract her from ringing up his items. At this point he would rather be purchasing condoms.  
“It’s raining love, I don’t know if that’s good weather, but to each their own.” _Shit _, he could feel his face heating up more and more.__  
“I guess it is good I live in London, I like the rain.”  
“Alright,” she said wearily “Well it will be twenty pound fifty.”  
Phil had never been more thankful for his items to be bagged up and put away, and then he looked down the belt and realized the nail polish had got stuck on the metal and hadn’t moved at all. He could forget about it. He could leave it, but for some reason he just really wanted to spend the 35 pence on that nail polish. He wasn't even entirely sure he would use it.  
“Actually,” he said quickly and so quietly he thought she may have not heard and he placed the nail polish at the end of the belt by her.  
“Oh! So sorry, didn’t see that there,” and that was it. She gave him the new total and he left without incident.  
It was nice to have the cold air on his face once he was sat at the bus stop. He still felt oddly nervous like everyone around him knew. He suddenly felt bad for Dan. He knew Dan wanted to paint his nails for a long time. He had talked about it all the way back in 2009. Back then it had been to be a little more emo. Guys in bands were doing it and it was cool to paint your nails black and see it chip off. He would sometimes come home from uni in Manchester with his nails sharpied in black. So when Dan had wanted to do it again more recently he was confused at his apprehension. He knew Dan liked doing it, and Phil liked that Dan was expressing himself. They had got in a very small argument over it one night. 

____

____

—- —

“Dan do you want to paint your nails?”  
“Phil you know the answer to that.”  
“Then just do it Dan,” Phil said a bit exasperated.  
“It is harder than just throwing on nail polish Phil.”  
“Dan you are going to be no different with nail polish as you are without it. If it would make you happy then why not?”  
“Because it will make other people unhappy Phil, and you know that.”  
“It wouldn’t make me unhappy. I like when you paint them, and I don’t think it will make fans unhappy. I have seen on more than one occasion comments from fans wanting you to paint them.”  
“Fine Phil.”  
And that had been it.

—- -

Phil had a much deeper understanding in this very moment. He didn’t know it would be this stressful. He was mad that it had to be. Why did it matter if he painted his nails. He knew it did though. 

When Phil finally made it home he felt weighed down, and not just by the groceries. He set them in the kitchen and began unloading. He was so frustrated by his feelings he hadn’t realized he was being so loud, banging cabinet doors and clanking mugs.  
“look at you, managed to open every kitchen cupboard, and the fridge.”  
“I am looking for a mug and I can’t find it,” He grumbled.  
“Phil we have about 15 other mugs right here. Want to stop pacing and I can make you whatever it is you need?”  
“I can’t find the hot chocolate. I was looking for hot chocolate, and I was going to make some for you too, and I think we are out, and I just wanted to do something nice for you because I am an idiot sometimes, and now I am being and idiot again, and I cant find the bloody mug, and,” It was all coming out as a rush.  
“Whoa, whoa, Phil what is going on.” Phil just looked up at Dan and walked over to him crushing him in a hug.  
“I am sorry,” He whispered into his shoulder.  
“Why are you sorry,” Dan asked softly.  
“I didn’t realize how hard it is to paint your nails,” and Dan had to stifle a laugh at that because Phil was visibly upset but he really had no idea what was going on.  
“Phil you helped me paint my nails, you know exactly how hard it is to paint someones nails,” Dan giggled. He wasn’t getting it. Phil pulled away far enough to look at him in the eyes.  
“No, not like that. I was at Tesco and I saw some nail polish, and I liked it so I bought it, but I got really scared to buy it, and I am really scared to even take it out of the bloody bag, and I pushed you so hard when you wanted to paint your nails, and you said it was hard and I just didn’t understand and I am sorry.” Dan was smiling, why was Dan smiling?  
“Phil, you did the right thing. I probably wouldn’t have done it if you didn’t push me, you know how bloody stubborn I am. I am happy you understand how I feel though. And if and when you want to paint your nails I will be here okay. It should be fun yeah? Plus you were right, a lot of people love it, and I will love you too okay,” he said with a kiss to Phil’s nose.  
“Thank you,” He said hugging back into Dan.  
“Let’s close these cupboards yeah? We are heating fridge walrus. 

—- —

Phil didn’t worry too much about the nail polish for the rest of the day. It was a good day to be honest. Dan found the hot chocolate, and the mug Phil had been searching for. They watched a film together, and tried Kombucha which Phil thought tasted like vinegar, and Dan loved. Phil finished editing the Gaming video he had been working on, and overall, it felt nice to have released some of the tension that had built up inside of him that morning. They had returned to the couch and were watching some Netflix documentary when Dan finally brought it up again.  
“So you can say no, but would you maybe want to paint our nails together? We can remove it right after, but I can help you paint yours, and you can help me with mine.” Phil sat silent for a moment, long enough for Dan to almost speak up again but then he finally spoke.  
“Okay,” He said quietly, “but if I want to remove it after, that’s okay?”  
“Of course.”  
And thats how they ended up sat across from each other at the kitchen table which was deemed the safest surface for this. Phil had to admit he thought he would feel like a school girl but Dan just kept complimenting him on the color, and talking about anime and a video game he wanted to play for the gaming channel and it all felt so normal and so okay because it was with Dan, and that night as they were going to bed he laced his fingers with Dan’s and looked at their nails that were messily painted and couldn’t help but smile.  
“I know why it bothered me so much,” Phil whispered.  
“Why?” Dan said rubbing his thumb against Phil’s hand as he examined them.  
“It’s because I am 31, it is 2018, I know who I am, I love you, my family knows who I am, our friends know who I am, shit our fans know who we are pretty much, and for a moment I was reminded of that 16 year old boy in school so worried about anyone knowing who I was, and I am almost twice that boy’s age, but I remember so well how it felt to be him.”  
“I know exactly what you mean, but you are not him anymore, and just think how shocked that 16 year old would be if he found out all this was going to happen.”  
Phil curled into dan’s side a hand on his chest and took one last look at his silver nails because Dan was right, never in a million years did he think he would be right here, and there was no better place to be.


End file.
